Whilst Olympic, the primary vessel, was in service for 24 years before being retired for scrap in 1935, her sisters would not witness similar success: Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage and Britannic was lost whilst serving as a hospital ship during the First World War after hitting a naval mine off Kea in the Aegean Sea, less than a year after entering service and never operating as a passenger-liner.

Although two of the vessels did not achieve successful enough legacies, they are amongst the most famous ocean liners ever built; Both Olympic and Titanic enjoyed the distinction of being the largest ships in the world.

The Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg America Line, the two largest German companies, were indeed involved in the race for speed and size in the late 19th century.

The first in service for the Norddeutscher Lloyd was Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which won the Blue Riband in 1897[5] before being beaten by HAPAG's Deutschland in 1900.

In response to this, the British Cunard Line ordered two vessels whose speed earned them the nickname "greyhounds of the seas"': Lusitania and Mauretania.

[8][9] The White Star Line knew that their Big Four, a quartet of ships built for size and luxury,[10] were no match for the Cunard's new liners in terms of speed.

In July 1907, during a discussion at the latter's Belgravia residence regarding the nearing maiden voyage of Cunard's Lusitania two months ahead, J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star and William J. Pirrie, director of the Harland & Wolff made note of her speed.

Ismay expressed concern at the record-breaking transatlantic crossing of the Lusitania with Pirrie; Despite White Star's reputation for elegance and luxury, Cunard's notability for punctuality and speed posed a threat to both of their respective firms to a great extent.

Pirrie formulated the concept of a large three-stack liner constructed in order to compensate for the recent ascension of Lusitania, with an emphasis upon prestige as well as her design.

After initial groundwork drawn up by Alexander Carlisle, a veteran architect of Harland & Wolff, and Thomas Andrews, another who was Pirrie's nephew, an additional smoke stack was extended to the blueprints, a feature designated to enhance the vessels' appearance, therefore rendering the original proposition a four-stacker liner.

The contract was agreed upon on in a drafted agreement between White Star and Harland & Wolff a year afterwards in July of 1908, facilitated as well as signatured by both Pirrie and Ismay in approval.

However, Olympic's boilers were converted to firing by oil at the end of the First World War,[23] which reduced the number of engine crew required from 350 to 60.

[27] The triad implemented modern developments in safety measures within their designs, intended to mitigate the risk of flooding and all but eliminate the likelihood of foundering.

The low height of the bulkheads also failed the ship, granting leeway for unpreventable flooding after water within the breached compartments reached E Deck.

a Georgian-style smoking room, a Veranda Cafe decorated with palm trees,[35] a swimming pool, Turkish bath,[36] gymnasium,[37] and several other places for meals and entertainment.

These were in imitation of the precedent set on the German Hamburg-America liner Amerika (1905), which had included a restaurant serving French haute cuisine run by the famous hotelier César Ritz.

Instead of large dormitories offered by most ships of the time, the third-class passengers of the Olympic class lived in cabins containing two to ten bunks.

On 20 September of the same year, while under the command of a harbour pilot she was involved in a collision with the cruiser HMS Hawke in the port of Southampton, leading to her repair back at Harland and Wolff and delaying the completion of Titanic.

[44] After the sinking of Titanic, Olympic was returned to dry dock in October 1912, where she underwent a number of alterations to improve her safety before resuming commercial service.

After a stopover at Cherbourg, France and another in Queenstown, Ireland, she sailed into the Atlantic with 2,200 passengers and crew on board, under the command of Captain Edward J. Smith headed for New York City.

[50] Titanic struck an iceberg at 41°46′N 50°14′W / 41.767°N 50.233°W / 41.767; -50.233[51] while sailing about 400 miles (640 km) south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland at 11:40 pm ships time.

There were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers and the nearest responding ship RMS Carpathia, being too far away,[31] 1,514 of the 2,224 people on board died, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

Repainted white and from bow to stern with large red crosses and a horizontal green stripe, she was renamed HMHS (His Majesty's Hospital Ship) Britannic.

One survivor, nurse Violet Jessop was notable as having also previously survived the sinking of Titanic in 1912, and had also been on board Olympic, at the time when it collided with HMS Hawke in 1911.

In contrast to Titanic, which lies at the very bottom of the North Atlantic and is being fed on by iron-eating bacteria, Britannic is in remarkably good condition, and is much more accessible than her infamous sister.

The first class lounge and part of the aft grand staircase can be found in the White Swan Hotel, in Alnwick, Northumberland, England.